Modern European furniture shop launches reclamation project

Embracing trends must be done carefully -- go overboard and your identity will be lost, with absolutely nothing Chris Gaines'd. Adroitly stepping onto the sustainable bandwagon, Hold It Contemporary Home, with Reclaimed Modern.

Known for its contempo-Euro, Hold It's opened a new showroom devoted to reasonably affordable recycled/repurposed furnishings; despite the pieces' oft-humble origins, all are carefully selected for their ability to fit seamlessly into the chicest of homes, like Pretty Woman without the annoying roommate. Several pieces are constructed from South American telephone-pole crossbeams (complete with rivet holes) and modernized via North American black walnut accents, as with the old-timey "Wright" desk and the eight-seat dining table "Simon", whose slogan is "Simon is a table, Simon has no brain, so no matter what he says he can't threaten the drain". To keep your backside padded they've got seat cushions upholstered with authentically patched big-rig canvas cargo covers and ottomans covered by free-trade burlap coffee sacks; there's also the "Nomad", a pedestal table that looks leather-covered, but's actually made with bicycle & auto tires -- stand around it to have a conversation that wears so thin, somebody finally just blows up.

More ornamental furnishings hail from Asia, including a Northeast Thailand irrigation wheel that once pumped water through primitive aqueducts, and a solid wood Nepalese House Ladder used to move between floors, though with steps carved just three inches deep, your friends with normal-sized feet are better off staying in low places.